smow blog compact: Van stoelen bezeten at Gorcums Museum

As many of you will be aware, back in November we struggled to find five design exhibitions opening in December for our monthly 5 New Design Exhibitions feature.

We’ve now, somewhat spectacularly, found a sixth.

In the highly unlikely setting of Gorinchem, a town of some 35,000 inhabitants in central Holland.

Under the title Van stoelen bezeten – Obsessed by Chairs – the Gorcums Museum in Gorinchem is currently presenting an exhibition of some 90 objects which according to the organisers help explain how the chair developed from a humble tool for sitting into the archetypal representative of contemporary design we know today. Curated by Frans Leidelmeijer, host of the Dutch TV programme “Tussen Kunst & Kitsch” – a Dutch version of Antiques Roadshow in which experts assess objects brought by the public and declare them either worthless tat or extremely valuable collectibles – Van stoelen bezeten was opened on December 22nd by Princess Margarita.

Yes, this is getting more bizarre the more we write. But also more intriguing and endearing.

Featuring objects loaned from museums and galleries in Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Ghent, Van stoelen bezeten presents over 100 years of chair design history starting from the likes of Josef Hoffmann or Henry van de Velde and continuing over luminaries including Alvar Aalto, Eero Aarino, Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Frank Lloyd Wright, Poul Kjærholm, Gerrit T. Rietveld, Joris Laarman or Shiro Kuramata before finally arriving at Dirk van der Kooij and his Endless chair project.

Which just sounds like the most delightful and engaging showcase, and not just for those who, like us, are van stoelen bezeten

As we believe we’ve said before, because everyone understands the chair it is the perfect conduit through which to present design theories and movements; using chairs allows you to focus on the peculiarities, novelties and developments without being distracted by questions of function or context.

Yet despite this ready accessibility most presentations of “classic chairs”, be that in exhibitions or books, tend to focus on a very small number of key moments; what is interesting about Van stoelen bezeten is that judging from the list of objects on show Frans Leidelmeijer and the Gorcums Museum have assembled an exhibition that goes a little bit further, and a bit deeper, than the norm. If, and admittedly only judging from the photos we have seen, the exhibition design concept would appear to make it difficult for the true lay visitor to fully understand the developments that are taking place as one strolls through the decades. For that there does need to be a bit more text. But maybe there is an accompanying booklet that explains the background in appropriate detail. As we say, we haven’t actually seen the exhibition.

However, regardless of such considerations all in all it sounds a truly excellent exhibition.

Probably not one worth travelling to the wilds of central Holland specially to view, but should you happen to be in Holland, well worth taking a detour for……..

Van stoelen bezeten runs at Gorcums Museum, Grote Markt 17, 4201EB Gorinchem, Holland until Sunday March 29th

Full details, sadly only in Dutch, can be found at www.gorcumsmuseum.nl

Van stoelen bezeten at Gorcums Museum